


You Need a Tutor

by Lambcow



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU, Based on a Tumblr Post, F/M, Kylo is a technician, Kylo works at Intel?, Modern AU, Not in a galaxy far far away, Oops, Rey is a Kenobi, Reylo - Freeform, angsty kylo, but at least it's maybe cute angst?, but really. It's Kylo Ren. Of course there's angst., idk what to tag, oh well, someone spelled something wrong and now I'm apparently writing Reylo about it, you need a tutor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 15:43:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5972827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lambcow/pseuds/Lambcow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey has to pass her math class or she can't compete in her fencing league.<br/>Kylo just got a job transfer to the area and has three weeks off, and Luke, needing Rey to compete for their team now more than ever, convinces Kylo to tutor her in his time off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kidnapped

Rey was walking to the Fencing Center after a long day at school, thinking about all the homework she would be lost trying to do later. Her math grades were hopeless. No matter how much she tried, it never seemed to click. Her grandfather was still trying to get her to get her grades up, but how would she do that? It’s not like she had a whole lot of time to fit extra studying into her schedule with her fencing league taking up a majority of her spare time (not that she would ever complain about that).  
She’d just have to figure it out somehow, but for the next three hours, she was all fencing, no homework, no drama, no boys, no anything. Just the thrill of the sport. Masks and sabers, team affiliated suits… everything she’d come to love about the sport her grandfather had been so devoted to throughout his own life. Grandpa Obi said he was too old to fence, that he’d basically died out of the community in his last match with his old friend/ rival, fencing legend Anakin Skywalker. Rey wasn’t too sure that was true but left him to his peace.  
Rey stepped through the doors to the Center and shifted her bag off her shoulder and into her hands as she walked toward the girl’s locker room a little ways beyond the lobby. She turned a corner and caught sight of a really tall person fully suited up mask, saber, and all. They caught sight of her and cocked their head.  
Rey gave the guy a funny look and glanced away. Some people were really weird around here… the guy’s uniform wasn’t for one of the teams around this area, so Rey figured he was from some other team here to compete. That did happen a lot with all the leagues in the area.  
Rey felt someone behind her, unexpectedly kicking her legs out from under her and carrying her bridal style toward an office room. Rey squawked in surprise and protested struggled against the strong arms carrying her. How had he gotten behind her, anyway? She hadn’t been that distracted by her thoughts, had she?  
“Hey, put me down!” Rey yelled out indignantly. He kicked the door closed behind them and dropped her down into a chair at the conference table. It was one of the nicer conference rooms with windows along the side showing full view of the arena where there were several groups of people practicing. Rey even distractedly noted Luke, the owner of the Center, coaching a couple kids.  
Rey turned her attention back to the guy who dragged her in here to begin with. He’d pulled her backpack and gym back off her when he dropped her down too; both were sitting on the table a little ways down from her. “What the hell was that for?” Rey quipped, getting to her feet and promptly reaching out for her bags, glaring liquid aggravation at the dude.  
“Well, Luke told me to get your attention when you came in today,” He said in a silky voice though it was muffled by the mask he wore.  
“Oh, did he now?” Rey scoffed. “And just who are you that Luke would send you to talk to me? I’m fairly certain I’ve never met you here before. And from a competing team, no less?” Rey crossed her arms, taking a step closer to him.  
“Actually,” He lifted his hands up and removed the mask. “Luke is my uncle. I used to train here before I moved to a different, more competitive league, during college.”  
Rey was surprised by the curls and seemingly perfectly coiffed hair of the man standing in front of her. Oh. Rey reevaluated her situation quickly.  
“That doesn’t change anything. What did Luke want?”  
“Well, apparently, your- grandfather?- Kenobi has been talking to Uncle Luke about pulling you out of tournaments if you don’t get your grades up-”  
“What!” Rey couldn’t contain her surprise outburst. Surely if grandfather was going to do that he would’ve told her first?  
“Don’t worry, Luke wants you to compete just as much as you seem to. That’s where I come in. I happen to be excellent at math. I’m a technician at Intel with the next three weeks off of work.”  
Rey raised her eyebrows skeptically. “And you’re just so eager to spend your vacation time tutoring seniors in high school, right?”  
“Well, I’ll be spending the majority of my time hanging out around here anywhere. I’m off work because I’m moving locations. I don’t have any other places to be around here yet, and I happen to enjoy math.”  
Rey scoffed. “Well, whatever. I don’t have time for this. I have a routine, and you’re interfering with training time here.” Rey said.  
“Oh, cmon! It won’t be that bad! You’re in what, trigonometry?” He stepped closer to her bag, presumably to look inside for her textbook. Rey snatched it out of his grasp.  
“Pre-calc, and not interested,” Rey told him, grabbing her gym bag and walking out without another glance.  
“We’ll see about that!” He called after her.  
Rey sighed in relief as she pulled on her gear and finally grasped her saber in her hand. This was peace and happiness.  
Fencing. Rey smiled in excitement and pushed thoughts of failing math aside and focused on all the people out in the arena she could challenge. She pulled her mask down over her face and made her way out to her competitors.  
She caught sight of one of her friends from school, Finn (who was new to the fencing scene in general) dueling with the man from before in the conference room. Rey realized she’d never gotten a name from him. It only took a minute before he’d beaten Finn.  
“Good one, Ren! Damn, you’re better at this than I am.” Finn said, pulling his mask off.  
“Well, I’ve done this a considerably longer time than you have.” Ren?- Weird name- responded, pulling his mask up to show his face.  
“Yeah, but I hardly expected this from a former IHop employee.” IHop? Who was this guy?  
“Hey, it was college! I had to make money somehow.”  
“Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that. I’m gonna call it a day, see you around.” Finn stalked off.  
“You want to fight, Kenobi?” Ren taunted, catching Rey’s stalled figure looking his way. Rey squared her shoulders and decided it was worth a shot.  
“Yeah, I think I do,” Rey said, getting into starting position across from Ren where Finn had just left.  
They started and it was all a blur of adrenaline from there on. He would strike, she would counter. They were a good match for each other as they danced through the space move after move. Form after form. Toward the end when things started getting more heated Ren decided to start a conversation of sorts.  
“You need a tutor! I can show you the ways of the calculus!”  
There was an opening, a hole in his defense and Rey took it, piercing him and that was it. She’d won. “It’s pre-calc,” Rey started, pulling off the mask, “and now I have to leave.”  
Ren pulled off his mask too and shrugged. “Well, whatever. Your grades-- and tournaments. If you change your mind and can’t find me, just ask for--”  
“BEN SOLO!” Ren’s face visibly darkened for a moment before he turned. The voice belonged to Han Solo, he came by the fencing Center sometimes to talk to his brother in law, Luke about stuff. So his name was really Ben… that made much more sense to Rey than the name Ren…  
Han was in front of Ben the next moment, talking. “You’re coming home for dinner tonight, aren’t you? Your mother misses you, Ben…” Rey didn’t want to be intrusive, so she walked away, taking the opportunity to escape her kidnapper/tutor (not that she’d take him up on it).  
She still heard the next part of their conversation, though. Han was still talking, saying “I know you don’t want to stay with mom and dad if you can help it, but it would be nicer than a hotel, right? It’s been too long. Come ho--” Rey couldn’t hear anything after that.  
Sounded like drama for the Solo’s. Ha, good luck with that kid, he seemed pretty wild. Who “gets someone’s attention” by attacking them in a hallway, anyway?  
Rey sighed and pushed thoughts of the, admittedly attractive, man from her thoughts and put her normal clothes back on. She had more pressing matter to consider, like, was Ben telling the truth when he told her grandpa would keep her from playing in tournaments until she had her grades up?  
She had a long night of studying ahead of her, and an even longer day of classes to look forward to tomorrow.


	2. To Fence or Not to Fence, That is the Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and angst (what did you expect).  
> Rey has an uncomfortable dinner with Obi Wan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, not edited. All mistakes are mine!!  
> -Also, I suppose this is disclaimer time too-   
> I do not own Star Wars. I think the only thing I actually own is my mind, and even that's not as free as I think it is... or is is? (ignore me, I need sleep).

Kylo Ren sighed as his father tried to talk him into coming home. He couldn’t. Couldn’t go back there, to his mother after all that had transpired these past few years and act normal. 

“I can’t make it,” Kylo told Han vaguely, voice strained with latent emotion.

“Ben…” Han was pleading with him here. Kylo kept his breathing as normal as he could. He knew this would happen. He knew the job transfer would lead to seeing his family and childhood acquaintances again, so why was it still this hard?

“It’s Kylo now. Has been for a while now,” Kylo fidgeted with the grip of the saber in his hand.

“Ben,” Han said again, more firmly this time, as if reassuring himself this was still the man in front of him who had once been the small child he’d raised. ”Come home, just for a few minutes at least?”

“I’ll see you around sometime, I have a meeting to get to.” Kylo left his father standing in the arena helplessly, and practically locked himself in a stall in the men’s locker room bathroom. 

His breathing was ragged and harsh, his mind reeling. He wished this wasn’t the way things were, but they had to be. He couldn’t forgive himself for all the things he’d done, even if his parents already seemed to. He couldn’t face his mother, his wrongs like blood, seeping through every word he spoke. 

He wasn’t strong enough for that. He may have put up such a strong front most of the time, acting like he was fine, which, sure, most of the time he was, but not in front of Han, and certainly not Leia. He was  _ weak _ , and he couldn’t face his parents yet. 

Kylo stepped out of the stall half expecting Han to be there waiting for him, to tell him he was being idiotic, a wuss, anything. But he wasn’t. Kylo was still alone as he changed out of his fencing garb and into his interview clothes after a quick rinse down in the gym’s showers- he hadn’t been lying about a meeting. He shook the echoes of despondency from his shoulders and opted to focus on something lighter for the time being. 

Like the cheery high schooler failing calculus--  _ sorry,  _ pre- _ calc _ . Kylo chuckled aloud to himself. She was a spitfire. Could fence too. Kylo momentarily beat himself up over the fact that she beat him at his own sport. Was he that off his game, or was she that good? He wasn’t sure which it was, but he liked the challenge either way.

Fencing was always good to get his mind off of things. All through his youth and well into his adult years too, he’d used the sport to blow off steam. Even when he was alone at a facility with nobody to fight against, he could spend hours practicing forms on mannequins or the open air. He would go through forms like some people ran. Strike after strike, until his limbs grew fatigued and he was drenched in sweat and could hardly lift his sabre. He lived through the sport, breathing for the thrill of competitions… that’s the real reason he’d agreed to tutor the girl.

Luke had been telling him about the situation when he got into town a few days ago; the state competition was coming up, the one that, if the Resistance Team won, would really help spread high spirits about fencing again. There was some big prize money to be awarded and this year some of the best in the team would be old enough to compete- Rey Kenobi.

“Old Ben says she can only compete if she get’s her math grades up, though. She’s failing trig or something, of all things! I would fight the old man on it more if he hadn’t been the one to teach me all I know about fencing,” Luke had said, and Kylo couldn’t help but think this could be a good way to prove himself to Luke. 

He’d been gone for so long from everyone who cared about him, and his situation with Luke may not have been strained the same way it was with his parents, but he wanted to make up for missed time helping around the Center. He wanted to be  _ useful _ here. And what was a little math, for a technician? Half his credit hours in college were probably math and science based!

“I could tutor her. I have time off for a while,” Kylo offered, not looking Luke’s way. 

“You’d do that? That may actually work, you know… Old Ben can’t get through to her, you know what it’s like to be a teenager, I’m sure. Okay, yeah, you help her. She wears her hair in three funny looking buns, you’ll know it when you see her. She usually comes in most days around three-thirty.”

Of course, Kylo decided the best way to confront a teen was through the element of surprise and brute force. God, he was such an idiot. That whole thing hadn’t worked out like he’d planned it. 

Kylo hashed it over in his mind, trying to think what he could try the next day to get her to just  _ do the math _ so she could compete, so he could show Luke he could be reliable and useful and…

Kylo realized he’d been staring at his hands thinking for too long. He had to go before he was late for his dinner meeting with the new crew he would be starting with at Intel after his vacation time was up. He made his way out of the Fencing Center, pulling on his signature black beanie cap as he jogged to his car.

It was pretty usual of Intel to hold events when they had big campus transfers, parties with free food and nice giveaways and stuff. Maybe tonight would be better. Kylo vaguely remembered his old coworker, Hux, also getting a transfer, he just hoped Hux was transferred to a different campus and theh wouldn’t be stuck working together again, as that might not be entirely pleasant for, well, anybody.

~~~

Rey wouldn’t consider the atmosphere at the dinner table with her grandfather that evening as a particularly pleasant one. Obi Wan seemed content to eat his mashed potatoes in peace. Acted as if nothing was amiss when he speared a carrot off his plate, or poured gravy on his mashed potatoes. But Rey was a live wire no matter how she tried to calm herself.

Surely, if he was going to keep her from competing because of grades he would’ve already told her. This was just some weird lie that Ben guy told her, but… if that was so, how did he know she needed help? Luke wouldn’t mention something like that to anyone so casually, would he? 

No, not likely, Rey decided. So that left one explanation: her grandfather was not going to let her compete in her  _ very first Senior League competition  _ which she had been training and  _ waiting for  _ her entire life, practically-- all because of a couple math equations gone wrong on a couple tests at school.

Rey pushed her food around on her plate, moving clumps of potatoes onto her vegetables absentmindedly. As long as she could keep a level head about this whole deal, maybe she could convince Obi Wan she didn’t need perfect grades right now, that fencing was a priority here. 

“Not very hungry today, are we?” He asked not unkindly, which just made Rey feel even worse. She wasn’t usually one for rage, but she could feel it building inside, making it hard to breathe properly.

“Not particularly.” She was lying, if she was honest with herself. She was famished. Training took so much energy out of her every day. Usually she would be up to her elbows, digging into whatever she could fit on her plate. But today, she could barely feel the hunger as it fueled her anger.

“Rey, is everything… alright?” Obi Wan asked carefully, sensing her mood as he so often did.

Rey took a deep, centering breath. “Is it true that if… if I don’t get my grades up you won’t let me fence?” She tried to be angry still, but it came out more as a cry. All she had worked for, all her efforts… just down the drain? She clenched her teeth, her indignation flaring back up, and waited for a response.

Obi Wan, however, remained unaffected. “I was meaning to discuss that with you tonight, but, yes. If you don’t get your calculus grade up above a ‘C’ you won’t be allowed to compete in the upcoming tournament.”

“But, Grandfath--” Rey started in outrage.

“Now, Rey. Education is very important. If you don’t pass this class, you won’t have credits enough to graduate. What of the future then? You have to be mindful of the rest of your life.” Rey could hardly believe what she was hearing, mostly because she knew he was right. Rey sat in her chair for several moments of silence, a war of emotions waging in her mind.

Finally, she reached out for her fork, unhappily shovelling food down so she wouldn’t be too hungry tomorrow.

“May I be excused? I have some  _ homework _ to get to.” Rey asked, only slightly bitter at the prospect of it all. Maybe she would need a tutor after all. 

No, she could do this without one. It was just  _ math _ .

“Of course,” Obi Wan responded civilly.

Rey left for the stairs at a pace faster than strictly necessary. Meditation might be helpful about now for her. Anything to help remind her why the universe wasn’t an awful place all the time…

~~~

The universe really was as awful as some people cursed it to be, Kylo Ren realized upon arriving at the dinner event. At first glance everything seemed fine. Tables, food, appropriately dorky theme for a computer company party. 

But, on second glance, Kylo noticed a large group of people all talking to a certain ginger technician. It was Hux. Kylo Ren’s main rivalry at basically everything since college. They probably could’ve been friends if things had gone differently, but sometimes things don’t go right, and they hated each other. 

As if on cue, Hux stopped talking and looked up and met Kylo’s gaze.

“Ren,” Hux greeted with strong distaste coloring his tone.

“Hux,” Kylo sneered back.

The pair carefully avoided and ignored each other the rest of the evening, but there was one thing Kylo was sure of; Kylo was not afraid to retaliate should shit start to go down between the two. 

Kylo mused as he checked into the hotel room Intel was paying for during the job transition, that, maybe it was a good thing he had the next few weeks off to adjust to being back home. He had time to plan how to cut Hux down and still help his uncle out at his fencing facility.

And there was always the challenge presented by the girl with calculus troubles to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you guys liked that first chapter so much that I wrote this one up today! Hopefully you like this one too... no Reylo interactions today-- mostly set up and stuff. But next chapter will for sure (I think :P).  
> Leave me a comment if you'd like, I looooove the feedback!   
> -Marva


End file.
